If you’ve been waiting to buy a Blu-ray player because the technology isn’t quite there yet, take a look at Oppo’s BDP-83. With a $499 list price, it would be considered a mid-priced model. Yet it runs rings around other Blu-ray players, including units that cost a thousand dollars or more.
Remarkably, it doesn’t take forever to load a Blu-ray disc. A major annoyance with other models is the length of time it takes for the Blu-ray copy protection to verify the disc is legit. With the Oppo BDP-83, Blu-ray discs load almost as fast as DVDs.
I have only a handful of Blu-ray discs, so I’ll be using the BDP-83 mostly for DVDs. The BDP-83 provides the best image quality I’ve seen with DVDs, due in large part to the high-quality scaling and de-interlacing provided by the built-in VRS processor from Anchor Bay. My DVDs have never looked better. They have richer colors, deeper tones, and silky smooth movement.
Other standout features include the ability to play most video and audio files directly from a USB thumb drive (also handy for firmware upgrades). There’s support for BD-Live content with 1GB of internal storage. The player is compatible with SACD (Super Audio CD) and DVD-Audio discs, as well as the latest high-end audio formats — Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. You say your receiver doesn’t know how to decode those audio formats? No problem. The Oppo BDP-83 can handle the decoding and route the audio through its 7.1-channel analog outputs.
The only downside I’ve encountered is the lack of multi-region support. Oppo’s DVD players could handle DVDs from other countries, once you’ve input a special code. As a condition for being granted the Blu-ray license, the company has agreed to not allow that loophole with its Blu-ray players. The region-code restriction is for both DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Oppo is one of the most customer-oriented companies around. They provide excellent support and are responsive to users’ needs. I had previously purchased two Oppo DVD players and wouldn’t hesitate to buy another. If you’re shopping for a feature-rich player (as opposed to the least expensive player available), you’ll find the Oppo models often represent the best overall value.